26. GREED (to be continued)

God says

Know [O men] that the life of this world is but a play and passing delight, and a beautiful show, and [the cause of] your boastful vying with one another, and [of your] greed for more and more riches and children.* - Q.57:20

* Commenting at length on this passage, Razi makes it clear that life as such is not to be despised, inasmuch as it has been created by God: cf. 38:27 – “ We have not created heaven and earth and all that is between them without meaning and purpose”; and 23:115 – “Did you think that We have created you in mere idle play?” But whereas life in itself is a positive gift of God and – as Razi points out – the potential source of all blessings, it loses this positive quality if it is indulged in recklessly, blindly and with disregard of spiritual values and considerations: in brief, if it is indulged in without any thought of hereafter.

Prophet said

“Had there been two mountains of wealth for the son of Adam he would have sought the third; and nothing but earth can fill up the belly of (such) son of Adam. And God returns to one who turns to Him penitently”– H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Ibn Abbas.

2.26. GREED (to be continued)

God says

Know [O men] that the life of this world is but a play and passing delight, and a beautiful show, and [the cause of] your boastful vying with one another, and [of your] greed for more and more riches and children.* - Q.57:20

* Commenting at length on this passage, Razi makes it clear that life is not as such to be despised, inasmuch as it has been created by God: cf. 38:27 – “ We have not created heaven and earth and all that is between them without meaning and purpose”; and 23:115 – “Did you think that We have created you in mere idle play?” But whereas life in itself is a positive gift of God and – as Razi points out – the potential source of all blessings, it loses this positive quality if it is indulged in recklessly, blindly and with disregard of spiritual values and considerations: in brief, if it is indulged in without any thought of hereafter.

Prophet said .

“Had there been two mountains of wealth for the son of Adam he would have sought the third; and nothing but earth can fill up the belly of (such) son of Adam. And God returns to one who turns to Him penitently”– H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Ibn Abbas.

2.26. GREED (concluded)

God says

...nor do you encourage one another to feed the poor! -- and you devour the inheritance of [others] with devouring greed, and you love wealth with boundless love! -- Q.89:18,20

Truly man is to his Lord, ungrateful; and to that (fact) he bears witness (by his deeds); and violent is he in his love of wealth. -- Q.100:6-8

The mutual rivalry for piling up (worldly things) diverts you (from more serious things), until you go down to your graves. -- Q.102:1,2

[Woe unto him] who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard, thinking that his wealth will make him live forever! *…. Q.104:2-3

*This is a metonym for the tendency to attribute an almost “religious” value to the acquisition and possession of material goods and facilities – a tendency which precludes man for giving any real importance to religious considerations.

Prophet said

“A man says: My property, my property! But, verily, his properties out of his wealth are three: what he puts on and is worn out; what he gives away (in charity) out of what he has hoarded; what is besides that is perishable and he will leave it for people.”-- H: Muslim. N: Abu Hurairah.

2.26. GREED (to be continued)

God says

...and know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial and a temptation,* and that with God there is a tremendous reward. -- Q.8:28

* Inasmuch as love of worldly goods and a desire to protect one’s family may lead a person to transgression (and thus to a betrayal of the moral values postulated in God’s message), and they are described as fitnah …. This reminder connects with verse 25 earlier : “beware of that temptation to evil which does not befall only those who are bent on denying the truth,” since acquisitiveness and a desire to confer benefits on one’s own family which often tempt an otherwise good person to offend against the right of his fellow-men. It is to be born in mind that, contrary to the NewTestament, the Qur’an does not postulate a contempt for worldly attachments as a pre-requisite of righteousness: it only demands of a man that he should not allow these attachments to deflect him from the pursuit of moral values.

Prophet said

1. “The son of Adam grows old but two things remain young in him : greed for wealth and hope for life.”-- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Anas.

2. “Had there been two mountains of wealth for the son of Adam he would have sought the third; and nothing but earth can fill up the belly of (such) son of Adam. And God returns to one who turns to Him penitently”– H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Ibn Abbas.

25. CONTENTMENT (concluded)

God says

Only they [truly] believe in Our messages who, whenever they are conveyed to them, fall down, prostrating themselves in adoration, and extol their Sustainer’s limitless glory and praise; and who are never filled with false pride; [and] who are impelled to rise [at night] to call out to their Sustainer in fear and hope; and who spend on others out of what We provide for them as sustenance. And [as for all such believers,] no human being can imagine what blissful delights, as yet hidden, await them [in the life to come]* as a reward for all that they did. -- Q.32:15-17

* The impossibility of man’s “imagining” paradise has been summed up by the Prophet in the well-authenticated Qudsi Tradition quoted by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizi and Ibn Majah, and narrated by Abu Hurairah: “God said : I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, nor has it occurred to human heart.”

Say: my Lord enlarges and restricts the provision to whom He pleases but most men understand not [God’s ways] . It is not your wealth nor your sons that will bring you nearer to Us in degree: but only those who believe and work righteousness – these are the ones for whom there is a multiple reward for their deeds; and it is they who shall dwell secure in the mansions [of paradise]. -- Q.34:36,37

Prophet said

1. “Live in this world as if you are a stranger or in transit, and count yourself as one of the inmates of graves” -- H: Bukhari. N: Ibn Omar.

2. “Whoever’s intention is to seek the next world, God creates contentment in his heart and collects vitues from him, and the world comes to him while he turns away (from it)…” – H: Tirmizi and Ahmed. N: Anas.